April 19th would have been Malcolm X's 86th birthday.

[EFerrari]

Amy had two good segments yesterday.

"Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention": Manning Marable’s Exhaustive Biography of the Civil Rights Leader

Events are being held today across the country to mark what would have been Malcolm X’s 86th birthday. Earlier this year a major new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, was published. The book’s author, Columbia University Professor Dr. Manning Marable, died at the age of 60 just days before its publication. Two decades in the making, the nearly 600-page biography is described as a re-evaluation of Malcolm X’s life, providing new insights into the circumstances of his assassination, as well as raising questions about Malcolm X’s own autobiography. We speak with Zaheer Ali, one of the researchers who worked with Dr. Marable on the biography. "In a sense, this book is a kind of iconoclasm in that way, in that it takes Malcolm off of the pedestal to examine him as a human being struggling through these political and religious currents that he was in," says Zaheer.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/19/malcolm_x_a_life_of_reinvention

Manning Marable’s Controversial New Biography Refuels Debate on Life and Legacy of Malcolm X
(CAUTION: Black leaders having a vigorous debate! lol)

After two decades of work, Dr. Manning Marable completed a new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Dr. Marable used material for his book that was recently made available, thus providing a new insight into the famed civil rights leader. His biography, however, has also refueled the debate on many controversial aspects of Malcolm X’s life and interpretation of his politics and legacy. To discuss Dr. Marable’s biography, we host a roundtable discussion with three guests. Amiri Baraka is an acclaimed poet, playwright, music historian and activist based in Newark, New Jersey. Herb Boyd is a Harlem-based activist, teacher and author who edits the online publication, The Black World Today, and writes for several publications, including Amsterdam News. Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and is the author of numerous books, including Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/19/manning_marables_controversial_new_biography_refuels

His wiki entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

Miriam Makeba's tribute, Malcolm X (Do you remember Malcolm?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOUrBBkL0TY

[Desertrose]

1. My b-day too...but not my 86th!!

...yet... :)

[EFerrari]

2. LOL. Good thing you got it in before Saturday!

Happy birthday, Desertrose! You're in great company. :party:

[leftstreet]

3. K&R

Thanks for posting that youtube tribute

[EFerrari]

7. Makeba, another treasure

but for her iffy friends. lol



lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba

[Hannah Bell]

4. 86. weird to think of. i always think of malcolm x as being younger than mlk, though he

was actually about 4 years older.

he just seemed younger.

[EFerrari]

5. It is weird to think of. He's always young in my mind.

But re the comparison, the media showed MLK as a family man and maybe they tended to show Malcolm X alone even though he was married and had six kids.

[Hannah Bell]

6. yes, malcolm x = young firebrand, mlk = father figure.

[EFerrari]

14. He knew it, too. Check this out, on media manipulation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38jQ-qoOfbs&feature=related

[Hannah Bell]

15. interesting but a little creepy in a way -- not mx, just the whole thing about beliefs

and how malleable they are.

[EFerrari]

16. Oh, completely creepy, a short circuiting of our frontal lobes.

Some part of our brain overrides fact in service of narrative.

/oops

[leftstreet]

17. +creepy

Interesting though!

[EFerrari]

19. There are all kinds of snippets of him talking on youtube.

They're sprinkled with the terms of the day but the topics are so current, it's sort of amazing.

[truedelphi]

8. I think that I will order the Marable book to celebrate his birthday.

Thanks for this topic, EF.

[EFerrari]

11. Marable worked on it for 20 years.

I'm ordering it up, too. Rapture permitting.

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[readmoreoften]

10. K&R.

[G_j]

12. K&R!

[EFerrari]

13. Eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X

MALCOLM X'S EULOGY
Eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X
Faith Temple Church Of God
February 27,1965

"Here - at this final hour, in this quiet place - Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes -extinguished now, and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought - his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are - and it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again - in Harlem - to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who have loved her, have fought her, and have defended her honor even to the death.

It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate, but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us - unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to : Afro-American - Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a 'Negro' years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American and he wanted - so desperately - that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans too.

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain - and we will smile. Many will say turn away - away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man - and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate - a fanatic, a racist - who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them : Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him.

Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Last year, from Africa, he wrote these words to a friend: 'My journey', he says, 'is almost ended, and I have a much broader scope than when I started out, which I believe will add new life and dimension to our struggle for freedom and honor and dignity in the States. I am writing these things so that you will know for a fact the tremendous sympathy and support we have among the African States for our Human Rights struggle. The main thing is that we keep a United Front wherein our most valuable time and energy will not be wasted fighting each other.' However we may have differed with him - or with each other about him and his value as a man - let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now.

Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man - but a seed - which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is - a Prince - our own black shining Prince! - who didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so."

http://www.malcolmxonline.com/speeches-eulogy.html

[malaise]

18. I ordered Marable's book

Damn time flies.

[EFerrari]

22. The media image is what I remember.

The young eloquent man of my memory is seven years older than my mother. How did THAT happen?

lol

[H2O Man]

20. Very good!

I have my own little celebration every year on May 19. I've got a large collection of books, LPs, and tapes of /on him.

[EFerrari]

21. I know so little about this.

I hope you'll let me know if Marable's book is a good place to start or not.

[H2O Man]

23. Yes, it is.

It is a high-quality book. Not perfect, or without error, but no book is.